As a Christmas present a close friend gave me the word ‘HOPE’ written in chunky metal. This gift has enormous personal significance as my husband David continues to battle cancer.

Although David spent Christmas in hospital and remains there still, God has made his presence felt daily, reminding me of this great hope I have in him through every pitfall and every step forward.

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Romans 15:4

Paul is referring to the promise of the coming Messiah found in Isaiah 11:1–10. Our hope is in Jesus. And this hope is grounded in and sustained by the promises of God in his written Word.

The hope of the Christian is a confident expectation of good things to come (Hebrews 6:11).

Jesus is our hope.

In Jesus God fulfilled the hopes of his people. His Spirit in us is a down payment of glory yet to come. We don’t have to try to muster up hope. Hope isn’t a feeling, but a solid truth on which to build our lives.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

Hope believes that God has not finished yet.

Sometimes we lose sight of the truth that God has already acted on our behalf and is working even now behind the scenes to bring about his good and perfect will. Even in the fiercest battles hope is not undone, because God is not done.

While hopelessness looks at immediate realities, hope in Jesus sees ultimate realities.

God wasn’t done with his plan yet when Noah was in the ark, nor when Sarah’s womb remained empty year after year, or when Joseph was in prison.

God was still at work when the children of Israel were trapped between the Red Sea and the mountains with Pharaoh’s army advancing.

The walls of Jericho seemed an insurmountable obstacle in the way of taking ownership of the promised land, but God hadn’t finished yet.

God’s plan was not derailed when Ruth was widowed, Job’s family all died and the boy David was ridiculed for taking on a giant.

God was still at work when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a furnace, and when Jonah was in the belly of a fish.

His mighty plan was still unfolding as Jesus’ grave was sealed with a huge rock.

And, however your situation might look today, God hasn’t finished with you yet. Or with me.

Despair sees only a hopeless end, but the child of God looks to Jesus and sees an Endless Hope!

Jill 💜